Axiom Verge Reviews
I actually enjoyed Axiom Verge better than Super Metroid. It is a must play for fans of the Metroidvania formula.
Regardless of which side you fall on, Axiom Verge is a fantastic example of how to do a Metroidvania right, and we couldn't be more pleased with it.
Although it closely follows the Metroidvania blueprint, the brilliantly designed and executed Axiom Verge adds enough new and original features to make it a truly great game in its own right. An absolute must for retro fans.
Although it closely follows the Metroidvania blueprint, the brilliantly designed and executed Axiom Verge adds enough new and original features to make it a truly great game in its own right. An absolute must for retro fans.
The ways that Axiom Verge resembles Metroid help set up and drive home the ways that Axiom Verge is most definitely not Metroid.
Axiom Verge comes loaded with this feeling. It might have been a revelation if Happ released it within a year of when he started development, when the indie market was still fresh. Nowadays, it's just a solid game. Nothing extraordinary, making me wonder if the extraordinary $20 price, a few dollars on top of typical PSN indie releases, is worth it.
It's just a shame that given the obvious talent and passion involved, it doesn't really have much of its own to add to the Metroidvania template. As charmed and delighted as I often was with its smartly paced escalation, its perpetually teasing construction, I kept waiting for some new element to appear, a eureka moment that either hadn't been thought of in 1986, or that could only be done today. It never quite happens. Axiom Verge seems content to be a homage, rather than a revival or reinvention. That's fine, since there's already plenty to justify your interest, but it feels like Happ has more to contribute than he's showing here.
Put another way, it's a game that needs to be left unattended, so that you can return to it with fresh eyes and discover the surprises that seem to sprout while you're away.
Do you like hunting for a thing to unlock a door so you can find another thing to unlock another door? Then this is your game.
